SDG3
NCKU Partnered with TaiAn Group to Accelerate Product Validation, Market Sales, and International Expansion for New Startups
National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) and the TaiAn Group have signed a memorandum of understanding to create a comprehensive precision health and sports technology ecosystem in southern Taiwan, marking a new stage of cooperation aimed at helping startups accelerate product validation, commercialization, and international expansion.
Director Liang-Ming Whang of the NCKU Innovation Headquarters for Industry-Academia (left), and Hsiang Wang, General Manager of the Cross-Border Business Division at TaiAn Group, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on behalf of their respective organizations. Together, the partners will provide early-stage companies with broad opportunities for market testing, sales, and promotion. Products can undergo small-scale sales trials through TaiAn’s retail network; once validated, they will benefit from professional marketing support and fast-track access to consumer markets. With NCKU’s overseas connections and the resources of TaiAn’s cross-border division—led by Manager Wang and Chief Operating Officer Kuan-Fang Chen—the partnership will also help startups enter international markets.
One of NCKU’s own incubated startups, EM EMPIRE, is among the first to benefit. Led by CEO Yu-Hsien Chao and COO Tsun-Min Cheng, the company operates the “Sky Nursing Station” home wound-care e-commerce platform and is currently testing a new dressing search engine. Through this collaboration, EM EMPIRE will integrate its system into TaiAn’s physical outlets, allowing consumers to search dressing information by need, order online with rapid delivery or in-store pickup, and helping pharmacies enhance their wound, ostomy, and skin-care product lines while streamlining pharmacist consultations and strengthening the overall O2O (online-to-offline) service experience.
NCKU launched its Precision Health Industry Accelerator in 2023 to provide end-to-end support from research and clinical validation to market promotion. TaiAn Group, with more than 30 years in the pharmaceutical distribution sector, operates over 300 allied pharmacies and the “TaiAn Health Shopping Network,” forming a robust O2O platform and a cross-border business division that brings Taiwanese medical and wellness products to Southeast Asia. Through this collaboration, NCKU and TaiAn plan to create a “Southern Taiwan R & D, Nationwide Launch” model, aiming to attract more than 30 startups over the next three years and speed the commercialization of innovative medical devices, sports products, and related services. They will jointly run accelerator team selections, product-packaging initiatives, and investor matchmaking events to connect academia, clinical practice, industry, and capital.
Both NCKU and TaiAn Group emphasized that their new open platform will welcome hospitals, distribution channels, and international investors to join the effort, with the goal of establishing southern Taiwan as Asia’s hub for precision health innovation.
Director Liang-Ming Whang of the NCKU Innovation Headquarters for Industry-Academia (left), and Hsiang Wang, General Manager of the Cross-Border Business Division at TaiAn Group, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on behalf of their respective organizations. Together, the partners will provide early-stage companies with broad opportunities for market testing, sales, and promotion. Products can undergo small-scale sales trials through TaiAn’s retail network; once validated, they will benefit from professional marketing support and fast-track access to consumer markets. With NCKU’s overseas connections and the resources of TaiAn’s cross-border division—led by Manager Wang and Chief Operating Officer Kuan-Fang Chen—the partnership will also help startups enter international markets.
One of NCKU’s own incubated startups, EM EMPIRE, is among the first to benefit. Led by CEO Yu-Hsien Chao and COO Tsun-Min Cheng, the company operates the “Sky Nursing Station” home wound-care e-commerce platform and is currently testing a new dressing search engine. Through this collaboration, EM EMPIRE will integrate its system into TaiAn’s physical outlets, allowing consumers to search dressing information by need, order online with rapid delivery or in-store pickup, and helping pharmacies enhance their wound, ostomy, and skin-care product lines while streamlining pharmacist consultations and strengthening the overall O2O (online-to-offline) service experience.
NCKU launched its Precision Health Industry Accelerator in 2023 to provide end-to-end support from research and clinical validation to market promotion. TaiAn Group, with more than 30 years in the pharmaceutical distribution sector, operates over 300 allied pharmacies and the “TaiAn Health Shopping Network,” forming a robust O2O platform and a cross-border business division that brings Taiwanese medical and wellness products to Southeast Asia. Through this collaboration, NCKU and TaiAn plan to create a “Southern Taiwan R & D, Nationwide Launch” model, aiming to attract more than 30 startups over the next three years and speed the commercialization of innovative medical devices, sports products, and related services. They will jointly run accelerator team selections, product-packaging initiatives, and investor matchmaking events to connect academia, clinical practice, industry, and capital.
Both NCKU and TaiAn Group emphasized that their new open platform will welcome hospitals, distribution channels, and international investors to join the effort, with the goal of establishing southern Taiwan as Asia’s hub for precision health innovation.
Director Liang-Ming Whang of the NCKU Innovation Headquarters for Industry-Academia (left), and Hsiang Wang, General Manager of the Cross-Border Business Division at TaiAn Group, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on behalf of their respective organizations.
NCKU partnered with the TaiAn Group to accelerate product validation, market sales, and international expansion for new startups.
